Making the Case for Health Care Homes in Tennessee

The effort to create more health care homes for Tennesseans is gathering steam. The Tennessee Primary Care Association (TPCA) is preparing to launch a campaign, “Health Care Home Tennessee” that will call for continued investment and partnership in Tennessee’s Community Health Centers to strengthen their infrastructure and provide the necessary tools for growth so that they can serve over 500,000 medically needy Tennesseans by the year 2015. “As our health centers see rapid growth in their patient numbers, it’s critical for us to strive to ensure that everyone in Tennessee has both affordable insurance coverage and a regular source of primary health care – a health care home,” said Kathy Wood-Dobbins, the Association’s CEO. “The goal of the Health Care Home Tennessee plan is to connect all Tennesseans with affordable health care in their communities. The doors to these health care homes are open to everyone, including the uninsured and TennCare, Medicare, and privately insured patients.” Even the state’s newspaper, The Tennessean us getting into the act and published op-eds by Community Health Center leaders, Burt Waller, President of TPCA (photo above), and David McRay, MD (photo below), family practice physican from Dayspring Family Health Center, Inc., in Jellico, TN , that highlighted the need for more health care homes.